Hi Folks! I'm not sure what or if I should do anything about a bizarre experience I had with a booking. I hosted Prateek and six of his friends in my private three-bedroom historic Victorian in an urban setting for a week. I checked the host reviews of Prateek before I accepted him and I didn't see any negative reviews.
First of all I'd asked Prateek how many parking passes he'd need well in advance of the booking as it is a pain-in-the-butt to order them off the City's website and it takes forever to get temporary parking passes for my guests. Then the day of the booking, as I was sitting down to dinner with my family, I got an Airbnb message from Prateek asking for FOUR MORE temporary parking passes...which is a total pain-in-the-butt and takes forever because each pass has to be ordered seperately. So I ordered 28 more passes (four cars X's seven days) ...but wasn't happy about it since it cut into my Friday night movie-time with my kids. But, I didn't want a bad review so I did it.
Then a day before their booking was complete I got a call from a friendly neighbor who keeps an eye on my house (as I don't live nearby) saying my garage door had been open all day long. I tried messaging Prateek to ask him to kindly close the garage door, but because he didn't respond, I had my neighbor close it for me. After reviewing the smart-lock history and security camera footage I found out Prateek had left the door from the garage to the unit unlocked since the wee-hours of the morning and....the security camera caught a homeless guy walk into my garage and steal a whole case of Costco toilet paper! I'm grateful it doesn't appear anyone entered the home through the unlocked garage/kitchen door...but I'm totally frustrated the garage door was left open. When Prateek finally got back to me a that evening, he said they'd vacated the house so he couldn't close the garage. What does he think I'd be able to do about the open garage? I live 1 1/2 hours away, my Property Manager wasn't going to the house until the next day...
Who does that? Who leaves the garage door open and the door unlocked between the garage and house in an urban setting? I'm lucky toilet paper was all that was taken. And, if my noiesy (errr I mean wonderful) neighbor hadn't called me, the garage door would have been left open overnight too. I've never had anyone do this and am looking into a smart-garage door opener that will alert me when it's left open too long because I live an hour and 1/2 away and wouldn't know the garage door was open unless I check the security cams.
Oh! And, my Property Manager went by to clean and said they'd moved a heavy dresser from the closet and didn't move it back! He, of course, is charging me extra for moving it back (which he should because it's not his fault.) I actually have a clause in the Rules stating any moved furniture must be moved back, because this is now the second time I've had guest rearranging furniture.
So, I guess my question is...what should I do? Of course I will not give Prateek a good review and be truthful in my review. But, I've noticed, if my guest doesn't review me, my review doesn't make it onto the guest's profile. I'm worried if Prateek doesn't review me, my review will not be posted and future hosts will not know what kind of Airbnb'er he is (a bad Airbnb'er).
I'm not so worried about the money for the toliet paper and the extra fee to my Property Manager for moving furniture...I'm worried about other hosts because I would not have taken this booking had I known how irresponsible, disrespectful, and uncaring Prateek and his friends were.
I've also noticed when I review a guest, I rate them on Cleanliness, Communication, Observance of the Rules, and if I'd Recommend them...but these things don't show up on their profile. I, as a host, am rated on all these things and are worked into my metrics as a super-host...but guests don't seem to be held to the same standard. The only thing I can see on guests profiles is the verbiage written by other hosts. In hindsight, I reread Prateeks reviews and they were vauge and undescriptive.
What would you do? And, am I missing another way to seach for wether or not someone is a good Airbnb'er? I can't seem to find ratings for guests...I just see the verbiage written by other hosts...which I will read more clearly because I think the other hosts were "speaking in code" when they didn't write glowing reviews....
